Lunch Time

We're sitting at the kitchen table right now, finishing lunch. The pan-fried chicken and kholrabi bulb, and toast with cranberry sauce went over well. AJ was the only one who really liked the oven-baked kholrabi leaf chips I made, though. Next time I'll try it with kale instead.

Just before lunch, my first delivery arrived from the natural foods store in the next state. They sell some of the nicest organic and/or local produce I've found yet, at reasonable prices, along with a number of hard-to-find items that Baby E and I can have.

Since they recently started a delivery service, we decided to try it. It was so nice to be able to shop sitting at my computer after the kids went to bed last night.

When the order arrived today it was like getting a package in the mail. There everything was, nicely packed into brown bags, all paid for and brought into the house for us. The kids and I excitedly dug through the bags, exclaiming over items as we put them away. I'll definitely be using the service again. The time and energy saved is definitely worth the nominal delivery fee.

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One of the items delivered was a small package of Yummy Earth organic lollipops in assorted fruit flavors. We wanted to try them to see whether we should order some to put in the prize bags at AJ's birthday party later this month. The Yummy Earth lollips are free of most allergens, including corn.

The kids cleaned their plates in anticipation of the lollipops. AJ and M&M eagerly wolfed down their food, hardly chewing their chicken and kholrabi in their hurry to taste the candy.

It was Baby E's first real candy. She was so excited about it after watching the older girls. She kept saying "ol-pop! ol-pop!" and making "please" and "more" signs. She nearly hyperventilated when I handed her the stick.

She seemed surprised by the taste at first, but she loved it! I almost cried watching her enjoy her very first lollipop.

Of course, it's not something we'll give the kids on a regular basis, and it calls for careful teeth-brushing after consumption. There are almost 6 grams of unrefined cane sugar per lollipop, although they are free of artificial flavors and colors. It's just so nice to have such a "normal" and yet allergy-safe treat to be able to give Baby E for special occasions.

The lollipops are really quite good. The fruit flavors are so intense, and the sweetness is nice but not overwhelming.

Last night I made a recipe with cabbage, carrots and sausage. It called for tomatoes as an optional ingredient, so I opened a can of Cento crushed tomatoes--one of the few canned goods that seems to be reliably corn-free. I'd never tried this brand of canned tomatoes before.

Wow. After trying the Cento tomatoes, I think I'm spoiled for any other canned tomatoes. They have such a rich, deep, fresh flavor--not acidic or sharp at all. They had an almost spicy-sweet flavor, reminiscent of basil, but it was just the tomatoes themselves.

I ended up turning my "unstuffed cabbage" into marinara with a twist to get more of that fabulous tomato flavor.

For dinner tonight, I'm going to try a new recipe--Thick and Sweet Rosemary-Millet soup, from The Health Promoting Cookbook. It's a vegan recipe, but I may cut up some of the leftover chicken for people to add to their soup if desired.

The menu-planning I did with Morning last weekend has been a huge help all week. It's so nice not to have to try to figure out what to cook and whether I have all the ingredients every evening. I've been trying quite a few new recipes. So far the only real dud has been the kholrabi leaf chips.

I've been using the crock pot quite a bit, which helps significantly to cut down on the dinner preparation early-evening stress. The beef stew and the lamb with pears turned out well, and were ready in time to eat an early supper.

Today AJ decided she was going to make a "Family Patho Alb-yume" (the hazards of having kids learn words by reading them instead of by hearing them) and asked me how to spell it. As we were discussing the spelling of the words, Baby E wanted to help. Every time one of us would say a letter, she'd repeat it.

So our conversation sounded a bit like this:

AJ: How do you spell family?
Baby E: Pell amly?
Me: How do you think? What sound does it start with?
Baby E: Art?
AJ: Family--fff--F!
M&M: It starts with F.
Me: Yes, it starts with F.
Baby E: F!
AJ: What comes next? A?
Baby E: A!
Me: Yes, that's right.
AJ: Then M.
M&M: M starts with M&M!
Baby E: M!